Size, page count, paper and quantity set the price. As a guide, 100 A5 stapled zines (32 pages) cost £188, 100 A5 paperbacks (84 pages) £394, and 100 square hardback picture books (32 pages) £618, with UK delivery included.
The price per copy drops sharply between 50 and 250 copies, and there’s no VAT on books, booklets or zines.
Real prices for 100 copies
These are real jobs from our price cards, all for 100 copies with UK delivery included. Find the one closest to your book.
Prices checked September 2026 · we confirm the exact price on your quote. UK delivery included. No VAT on books, booklets or zines.
Only need one? Printing a single copy starts at £63 for an A5 zine of 32 pages, and for one to twenty copies the instant calculator shows your exact figure as you click.
What moves the price
Six things set the price of every job. Size, page count, paper and quantity matter most.
| What changes | How it moves the price | Real example |
|---|---|---|
| Size | A5, A4 portrait and 210 × 210mm square are the most cost-effective. Bigger formats move onto larger presses and cost more. | 32pp stapled: A5 £188, A4 £306 |
| Page count | More pages means more paper and press time, and a thicker spine. | A5 paperback: 44pp £246, 84pp £394 |
| Binding | Stapled costs least, perfect bound sits in the middle and hardback is the premium option. | A5 84pp: paperback £394, hardback £614 |
| Quantity | The more copies you print, the less each one costs. | A5 84pp paperback: £3.94 each for 100, £1.97 each for 500 |
| Paper | Our house silk, gloss and uncoated papers keep costs down. Coloured or kraft stock at least doubles the cost. | Silk and gloss cost the same; uncoated is fractionally more |
| Ink and extras | Black-only inside pages bring the price down. Foil, spot UV and embossing add from £280 a run. | Foil on 100 copies: from £2.80 a copy |
How the price per copy falls with quantity
The price per copy drops sharply between 50 and 250 copies, then keeps easing as the run grows. Here’s the same book at different quantities.
| Book | 100 copies | 250 copies | 500 copies |
|---|---|---|---|
| A5 booklet, 16pp stapled | £164 £1.64 each | £280 £1.12 each | Ask us |
| A5 zine, 32pp stapled | £188 £1.88 each | £355 £1.42 each | Ask us |
| A5 paperback, 84pp | £394 £3.94 each | £816 £3.26 each | £986 £1.97 each |
| Square paperback, 32pp | £338 £3.38 each | Ask us | £1,100 £2.20 each |
| Square hardback, 32pp | £618 £6.18 each | £1,230 £4.92 each | £1,990 £3.98 each |
It’s worth asking for two quantities on your quote, say 100 and 250, so you can see the difference. Or tell us a target price per copy and we’ll work out the quantity that hits it.
Short runs print digitally. On longer runs, litho printing becomes more cost-effective, and we’ll recommend whichever suits your quantity.
What a short run costs, by page count
Our instant calculator prices one to twenty copies on the spot. These are the figures it gave us in October 2026 for a full colour book with a matt laminated cover, delivered to a UK address.
| Book | 1 copy | 10 copies | 20 copies |
|---|---|---|---|
| A5 paperback, 100pp | £78 | £141 £14.10 each | £184 £9.20 each |
| A5 paperback, 200pp | £73 | £172 £17.20 each | £236 £11.80 each |
| A4 paperback, 100pp | £78 | £182 £18.20 each | £279 £13.95 each |
| A4 paperback, 200pp | £73 | £259 £25.90 each | £379 £18.95 each |
| A5 hardback, 100pp | £191 | £228 £22.80 each | £269 £13.45 each |
| A5 hardback, 160pp | £222 | £275 £27.50 each | £334 £16.70 each |
A single copy barely moves with length, £78 at 100 pages and £73 at 200, because setting the job up is most of that price. Extra pages begin to count at ten copies, where the second hundred adds £31, and at twenty, where it adds £52. A 300 page book sits beyond the calculator's 200 page limit, so one of us prices it by hand and you normally have the figure the same working day.
A single A5 paperback is never more than £78, whatever its length up to 200 pages. Have it printed, look at the paper, the colour and the margins on a real copy, then commit to the batch knowing exactly what will land.
What’s included in every price
- Free UK tracked delivery to one UK address.
- A free file check by a real person. We check bleed, page order, image resolution, spine width and colour, and often rebuild missing bleed or build your cover for you.
- No VAT on books, booklets, zines, leaflets or newspapers. They’re zero-rated.
- A PDF proof to approve on most runs of 21 copies or more, and on every hardback.
- Your artwork kept on file, so a reprint is one email.
Notebooks, postcards and posters carry 20% VAT, unlike books.
Extras, and what they cost
| Extra | Price | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| Foil, spot UV or embossing | From £280 | Per run. Adds 5–6 working days, and you send a second file marking where the finish goes. |
| Book cloth hardback cover | About £250 | Per run. With foiled lettering, around £530–580 in all. |
| Ribbon marker | 50p a book | Hardbacks only, in seven colours. |
| Printed proof copy | From £25 | Only alongside a run order, and priced at cost as a check before the run goes ahead: £25 for a flat sheet; a bound copy is about £44 stapled, £58 to £82 perfect bound or £120 to £180 hardback. Not colour matched to the final run. For one finished copy on its own, use the calculator. |
| Timed delivery slot | £8 or £12 | Pre-noon £8, pre-9am £12, for critical deadlines. |
| Resizing your artwork | From £25 | Quicker and cheaper to set your file up at the size you want printed. |
Because finishes are priced per run, they add far less per copy on a bigger run. See them in action on our premium extras page.
Ways to keep the cost down
- Stick to a standard size. A5, A4 portrait, A6, 210 × 210mm and 254 × 203mm print most efficiently.
- Choose a house paper. Want a coloured or kraft look? Drop one of our free paper textures into your cover background instead, and we’ll print it crisp on bright white.
- Watch your page count. Every extra page adds paper and press time, so tighten the layout before you fix the final count.
- Print black-only inside pages if your content is words or line art. Greyscale counts too.
- Order one copy first. There’s no minimum, and checking a single copy in your hands costs far less than reprinting a run.
- Set up your file at the right size. Our free Artwork Hub shows you how, so there’s nothing to resize.
How to get your exact price
- 1–20 copies: price it yourselfThe instant calculator prices your book as you click, with no forms and no waiting.
- More than 20 copies: ask for a quoteOur 30-second quote form takes your size, pages, paper, binding and quantity. We usually reply within an hour or two, and the same working day.
- Or just talk to usEmail hello@exwhyzed.com or ring Harriet or Mike on 01206 766647. Real people, no chatbots.
Making a zine pay its way? This short video looks at zine pricing and what makes a project viable.
Amazing service from Mike. I liked the fact that I could speak to a real person who was so helpful and they seemed very cost effective also. Hugely recommend.
Quick questions
Is there a minimum order?
None. Print a single copy to check it in your hands, then run the full batch.
Do I pay VAT?
Not on books, booklets, zines or leaflets. They’re zero-rated. Notebooks, postcards and posters carry 20% VAT.
Is black and white printing cheaper?
Yes. Tell us if your inside pages are black ink only (greyscale counts) and it’ll bring your price down.
Would print on demand be cheaper?
Sometimes. For a text-only A5 novel under about 50 copies, a print-on-demand service may well be cheaper. We come into our own on illustrated books, photobooks and special finishes, and on runs of 50 upwards.
How much is delivery?
Free to one UK address, by tracked courier. Worldwide delivery is quoted at the courier’s cost price, and outside the UK import fees may be charged on arrival.
Why is my quote different from the price cards?
Each card is a real job at a fixed spec. Change the size, page count, paper or quantity and the price moves with it, which is why we quote every book individually.
How much does it cost to print a 200 page book?
One copy of a 200 page A5 paperback is £73 on our calculator, ten copies are £172 and twenty are £236, full colour inside, matt laminated cover, UK delivery in the price. Go up to A4 and twenty copies are £379. For bigger runs, send us the spec and we quote it by hand.
How much does it cost to print a 300 page book?
The calculator tops out at 200 pages, so a 300 page book comes to Harriet or Mike for a quote. Email us the size, the quantity and whether the inside is colour or black ink and we will reply with a figure. As a guide, taking an A5 paperback from 100 pages to 200 moved ten copies from £141 to £172, so the set up, not the page count, is what you are mostly paying for.
How much does it cost to print a single book?
£78 or less for an A5 paperback up to 200 pages, or £191 for an A5 hardback of 100 pages, full colour with a laminated cover and delivered. That is the calculator's price for one finished copy, the same whether you want it as a test before a run or as the only one you will ever print. Printing is one line of the budget, though: our guide to the cost of self-publishing a book adds up editing, design, ISBNs and the rest.
Want your exact price?
For 1–20 copies, the instant calculator prices your book as you click. For more, send us the size, page count, paper and quantity, and we’ll come back the same working day.
